‘I wanted to set the tone’: The Kiwi actor making his own rules
New Zealand actor Josh McKenzie knows what it’s like to feel left out. As an 18-year-old starting out in his native country, long before he appeared in Five Bedrooms and The Twelve, and starred on NBC sci-fi drama La Brea, he often felt excluded by other actors when playing guest roles. He was determined not to let that happen to anyone on new crime drama The Hunting Party, shot in Canada, and in which he plays a former soldier seconded by the FBI to track serial killers escaped from a top-secret facility.
“I wanted to set the tone and be a leader and make sure everyone was welcome,” says McKenzie. “I know being a guest actor on set is hard. In New Zealand, we get a lot of those juggernauts come in and take over and the local actors weren’t treated too great. I think some people get a chip on their shoulder and when they get the opportunity, they take it out on other actors. It’s not fun.”
Josh McKenzie plays Shane Florence in the crime drama The Hunting Party.
He says that - “like any workplace” - bullying and exclusion can be part of the filmmaking industry.
“There’s this weird high school mentality and this separation,” he says. “I get it – these actors who’ve been on set for months form their little alliances, and you come in and you feel like an outsider. So we made a conscious effort [on The Hunting Party] to make this an enjoyable family-type situation. There was a lot of liberty and a lot of fun, and we let the guest actors dictate how they wanted to be involved.”
His character, Shane Florence, whom the pilot episode infers may be a love match for special agent Rebecca Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh from supernatural drama Manifest), is not McKenzie’s ideal role. Having played more bad boys (ruthlessly ambitious Nate on Shortland Street, cocky heir John on Filthy Rich, heroin addict Joey on The Twelve) than heartthrobs (Xavier, Harry’s love interest on Five Bedrooms), McKenzie declares he is “more serial killer than hunter!”
Melissa Roxburgh as Rebecca ‘Bex’ Henderson, Josh McKenzie as Shane Florence, Patrick Sabongui as Ryan Hassani in The Hunting Party.
“I lean into the more obscure stuff, the more niche people,” he says. “To be charming requires a lot of reverse engineering. How do you charm somebody? How does this character know what to use to get what they want? There’s all this psychology behind it and I find that harder to break down because it requires you to be perceived as good-looking. I’d rather be a bit grimy and hide from that.”
In order to “do the US military proud”, in portraying an Afghanistan vet, McKenzie beefed up his training regime. “Thankfully, I’ve always been quite a physical person. I’ve got a background in martial arts, so it was a matter of upkeep – getting a bit more size on me to be physically more imposing, and then a lot of tactical training, working with guns.”
A versatile musician, and a music and film producer, McKenzie’s first love is independent cinema.
“In terms of privilege, to be able to do that and still keep the lights on, it’s a balance. I’ll work my whole career trying to work that one out – one for you, one for me.”
Based in Melbourne, he’s working on a biopic of Australian boxer Michael Katsidis. He’s keen to return to a Hollywood reeling from the LA bushfires.
“The industry has taken some hits over the past five to 10 years, but it’s very resilient. Now also with AI, there are so many threats. But people will always want to be entertained and moved and I always remind myself why I got into this,” he says. “I was always really affected by music and film, to the point where it saved the day. And it provides a connection with people, it exposes a lot; breathes life into wounds. I’m very romantic in how I view the work, but it’s important to keep that little kid inside alive. The more you crush that younger version of yourself, the worse you get at your job.”
The Hunting Party is now streaming on 7Plus.
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